Study of Bamboo Physical Properties and its Application as Reinforcement in Adobe Structures

This study is referred to the application of bamboo as a structural reinforcement in constructions with adobe. The main focus is the need of searching and using economical, safe and environment-friendly alternative construction materials because of the current environmental situation. Two adobe walls were built; one reinforced with bamboo and the other without any reinforcement. Those walls were essayed to cyclic lateral load in order to get capacity curves, displacement ductility, Young Modulus, stress distribution, dissipated energy, secant stiffness, and to compare between them. The results showed that the bamboo reinforced adobe wall has a substantially better structural behavior because its lateral load capacity was highly increased; also a higher absorption and better distribution of energy were achieved.